


The Rest

by JupiterOrchid



Series: Crash Landing; Song-fic fix-it [6]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Moving In Together, Romantic Gestures, post-season 01 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23385835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JupiterOrchid/pseuds/JupiterOrchid
Summary: “What are you thinking?” Michael asks suddenly.“That you’re an idiot,” Isobel lies but it comes out believable enough, probably because that’s what she should be thinking.This is the last part in my fix-it songfic series where I can't leave that finale well enough alone and have to make sense of what the fuck Michael is doing. Except this last part is not a songfic.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Crash Landing; Song-fic fix-it [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665295
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	The Rest

**Author's Note:**

> As I've mentioned in the previous part, this is more of an addendum. I just couldn't help myself.

The dust lifts behind Michael’s truck in a thick cloud of ochre. Isobel’s window is cracked open just an inch, ruffling her hair a little. She looks out at the field of wind turbines dotting the east side of the road, each giant blade turning slowly in endless lumbering circles. She thinks about how much bigger they look in real life, how she never thought something that looked so simple and small in movies and photos could seem so menacing and huge in real life. But that’s just it, isn’t it… you have to come closer to know better, even if it’s terrifying.

“What are you thinking?” Michael asks suddenly and against her better judgement, Isobel can’t help but think that Michael’s move to Holloman is doing Michael a world of good. And whatever does Michael a world of good seems to do a world of good for their relationship, also. Funny how that works.

“That you’re an idiot,” Isobel lies but it comes out believable enough, probably because that’s what she _should_ be thinking.

Michael chuckles.

“Are you _sure_ this is a good idea?” she asks him for the hundredth time in the last three weeks.

“I’m sure,” Michael beams. The boxes clatter in the back as they hit a pothole. Liz leans between them from the back seat:

“I think it’s a great idea,” she smiles.

“Thank you,” Michael says gratefully, his tone sounding a little like he wants to say, _see? Someone agrees with me!_

“I just don’t want you to regret anything,” Isobel folds her arms in front of her protectively.

“My life has been filled with regrets,” Michael reasons. “What’s a couple more?”

“Don’t you think it’s time you stop adding more to the pile?” Max adds from where he’s reading a book next to Liz.

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Michael argues, catching Max’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.

“I might regret it,” Michael agrees when Max raises an eyebrow, “but I think it’s more likely that I would’ve regretted not doing it.”

They stay silent for a moment and then Isobel reaches for his hand, squeezes it tightly: “whatever you think is best.”

That’s as close as Isobel would get to acquiescing, Michael knows, and he squeezes her hand back in return, grateful.

They drive the rest of the way in silence.

\---

Michael thinks that if he wasn’t from Roswell and didn’t know every single inch of it like his own ten toes, he could’ve driven into Holloman and confused one town for another. There is no Crashdown, there is no Pony, but the dusty streets, the beige and carmine buildings, the cacti, the shrubs, the heat, it’s all so similar that for a moment he feels like they looped around and ended up back in Roswell.

“Just turn right on this street,” Isobel says, navigating on her phone. “That one, number 84,” she says as if Michael hasn’t seen it before.

Michael parks his truck in front of a squat little bungalow with a flat roof and large south-facing windows. It’s freshly painted an off-white and it has some wild shrubs in the front yard that are still defiantly green. Kyle’s truck is parked crooked on the driveway, a large U-Haul attached to it, pulled up with it’s gate towards the door. Kyle is leaning against one of the columns in the shade of the veranda, arms folded over his chest.

“Took you long enough,” he says, pushing off and walking to greet them.

“We had to go back to the junk yard for something,” Isobel explains, rolling her eyes, a box already in her hands. She’s wearing jeans and a loose t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Her hair is up in a high ponytail. She looks the most comfortable Michael has seen her in years as she rests the box against her hip and fishes out the key for the house.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kyle checks in with Michael again when they open the gate of the U-Haul.

“Which part?” Michael asks because he’s honestly not sure.

“The surprise part,” Kyle explains as if he’s holding back a _duh_. Michael breaths out, unconsciously relieved Kyle-suddenly-Alex’s-best-friend-again-Valenti, at least, is not questioning the rashness of Michael’s other decisions.

“No,” Michael says honestly, sheepishly, “but I want to do this for him. Call it a romantic gesture,” he allows himself the weakness, looking away. Kyle, reading between the lines, allows Michael this moment of vulnerability without teasing or questioning it further.

The U-Haul holds all the furniture Isobel picked out for them. There isn’t much: a bed, a couch, a dining table, some chairs and a dresser. But it should do for now. They wrestle the furniture into the house and then bring in all the boxes. By the time they’re done, the sun is low in the sky, sliding a bright orange filter over the world, softening the edges.

Liz, Max, and Kyle take Kyle’s truck to the nearest motel, but Isobel stays. She digs through the boxes, pulling things out and finding them a place in their new home. Michael stands next to the French doors that lead to their back yard and watches the glow of the sun spilling over the world.

Isobel comes up to hug him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“What are you thinking?” she asks him. In the several months since Alex left for Holloman, they have become closer than they have ever been. Michael is suddenly hit by the realization that he loves her _so much_ and that he’s going to miss her.

“Just about how I’m going to miss you,” he tells her the truth. She hides her eyes in his shoulder, but he can feel her smiling as she squeezes him a little tighter.

“I’ll miss you, too,” she says quietly and then lets him go, goes back to the boxes. He turns to look at her.

It’s as vulnerable as they have allowed themselves to be with each other in years and Michael feels an ache at the prospect of losing her. Him and Isobel never had the same connection as her and Max did but it’s as if she’s reading his mind, anyway because she looks up at him.

“You’ve been in Holloman for months, Michael,” she reminds him and it’s true but _this,_ it feels different. She smiles at him and says: “this isn’t goodbye, it’s a see you later. Or, more like, a see you soon because you _know_ I’m claiming that guest bedroom.”

“It’s all yours,” he chuckles and then settles in beside her, helping her unpack the kitchenware and the linens.

They work until way past midnight, rearranging the furniture and laying out the rugs, and throwpillows, and a myriad other knick-knacks Michael never thought they’d need. They’re finding everything a place, Isobel tells him. Finally, they fall onto the bed in exhaustion.

In the dark, Isobel reaches for Michael’s hand and says: “are you sure you want me to do this?”

“Why wouldn’t I,” Michael huffs a laugh, “you’re the best person for this job.”

“What if he,” she pauses, uncertain, turns onto her back and allows her hands to flail over them wildly like she used to do when they were kids, “what if Alex wants it all to be different? What if he hates it?”

“Then we’ll move the furniture around,” Michael says reasonably and then adds: “but he won’t, he won’t hate it because you did an amazing job and because we’d be lost without you.”

Isobel doesn’t say anything to that, but Michael swears he can feel her smiling.

\---

Michael and Alex have been facetiming almost every day since Alex left. Michael drove out to Holloman a week later, just to take Alex on a date. He didn’t even stay the night, keeping his promise to go slow. Just walked Alex to his door, kissed him goodbye, and drove back to Roswell.

Isobel helped him pack up his stuff, Max and Liz helped him with the job. Soon enough, he was moving his airstream to a trailer park near Holloman. For the first time since they came to Roswell as children, he was going somewhere else. It was exciting and terrifying. He thought of getting an apartment, really, he did…but he always had _this_ in mind.

Dating definitely became easier when Michael didn’t have to drive in and then back to Roswell every time. And things were going good. They’d fight and bicker and get mad at each other like any couple would, but they always found their way back. And the good parts… they were _really_ good, and so much more frequent. Recently, Alex started talking about moving off base, said how it’s getting a little stifling, how maybe it was time… and Michael had to admit that all he was doing this whole time was holding his breath. And now he was letting that breath out. He wasn’t going to lie, it was terrifying.

\---

In the morning, Max, Liz and Kyle come back and help Isobel and Michael unpack the last of the boxes. Michael can hear Kyle and Max arguing good-naturedly over the dining room table they are putting together.

In the bedroom, Isobel is telling Liz that the curtain rod needs to go a little higher as she’s putting away their linens. 

Michael is a little worried they won’t be done in time. Yesterday, he asked Alex to come look at a place with him if Alex can get away, told him Isobel found it, to stay as close as he could to the truth.

Alex is supposed to arrive around six, so they only have four hours left. It doesn’t have to be perfect – Michael reminds himself – but he wants it to be as close to it as they can manage.

At some point Isobel sends Max and Liz away to get some takeout for dinner and her and Michael and Kyle stand in the living room looking at their handywork. The house is bright with all the natural light. The couch is a soft neutral colour, complimented by a cream and green area rug with a geometric pattern. Isobel picked up some cool paintings and arranged them into a gallery wall in the living room, leaving enough space for Michael and Alex to add more art or photos they might like. The birch-and-emerald colour palette continues throughout the rest of the house, with a plant rack in the bedroom and green towels in the bathroom. It looks nice, nicer than anything Michael could ever come up with.

“You think he’ll like it?” Michael breaths out, suddenly filled with dread.

“I think he’ll love it,” Kyle claps him on the shoulder in encouragement.

“And if he doesn’t,” Isobel smiles softly, says it easily, “we’ll change it.”

It already feels like home and Michael can’t help the warmth that spreads through him.

\---

Liz and Max come back just before six and Michael heads outside to sit in his truck and wait for Alex.

Alex is a little late. He climbs out of his car looking tired but happy. Michael gets out and comes towards him first.

Michael reaches for Alex in a now-practiced motion, pulls him closer, kisses him softly and then more urgently in greeting.

Alex smiles into the kiss and then pulls back a little.

“A house?” he says a little surprised.

“The owners are renting for now, but they’re thinking of selling in the next year or so,” Michael explains. “I thought it might be nice to try it out with the option of making something more permanent out of it.”

He’s sheepish. There’s an implication in his words, a plan for the future that he’s not sure Alex is ready for, but Michael is. He’s thought about it a lot in the months as they went on dates, and fought, and rebuilt themselves around one another and he’s pretty sure this is it for him, the end of the line. He doesn’t want anything else.

“Sounds nice,” Alex says, and the words ease Michael’s worries.

“Would you like to see it?” Michael asks and if he fidgets a little Alex doesn’t mention it.

“Yes, let’s go.”

They walk the short path to the door and Michael takes a deep breath before he pushes it open and lets Alex walk in first.

“Surprise!” the four people inside yell and Alex startles. Michael can’t see his face but then Alex turns to him and he’s smiling so brightly that any reservations Michael has had about this fall away like an old shell he finally can climb out of.

“What’s all this?” Alex asks him, still smiling and turning back to the group inside.

“It’s your new house,” Liz takes the lead, coming towards him for a hug. They say their hellos and then Liz grabs Alex by the arm, leading him through the house to show him everything.

“Isobel planned all the décor,” he hears Liz say, “obviously.”

She giggles.

“With Michael’s input,” Isobel calls after them. The house is small, so she doesn’t need to yell very loudly for them to hear.

“Only a little input,” Liz confides a little quieter, but Michael still hears it and their new bout of giggling. He wants to follow them, but he also wants to give Alex a moment to process, in case this was the wrong call.

When Liz is done with the house tour, they come into the living room where he, Max, Isobel, and Kyle are all piled up on the couch.

Michael stands up.

“So,” he starts coming towards them, uncertain once more, “what do you think?”

Alex hugs him in answer.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispers into Michael’s neck and Michael squeezes his arms tighter around Alex, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.

They have dinner together. Alex tells them what he can about his job and asks every one of them how they’re doing. When Isobel seems uncertain about her future, he encourages her. When Max tells them funny stories from his job, Alex laughs as hard as the rest of them and claps Max on the arm, open and friendly. It’s wonderful, Michael finds himself thinking, having all these people he genuinely loves all under one roof.

Carefully, almost too casually Alex asks about Maria and Michael refuses to feel guarded.

“She really wanted to come,” Liz explains, making it clear that she was always welcome, “but she’s planning big changes for the Pony and couldn’t get away.”

Alex smiles, a small, private smile and Michael finds himself relieved once again.

After dinner, Liz, Max, Kyle, and Isobel get ready to leave. They hug each of them in turn.

“Are you sure you can’t stay a little longer?” Michael hears Alex ask Liz and Max.

“We have a long drive back,” Max explains, sounding apologetic.

“We’ll come visit real soon,” Liz promises.

Isobel sticks to Michael for a little longer, as if she wants to leave a part of her behind, take a part of him with her.

“You’ll be okay, right?” she asks him, pulling back, but not completely. She says it in a tone that sounds a bit like she’s trying to convince herself rather than ask him a question.

“Of course he will be,” Alex interrupts, coaxing Isobel into a hug if his own.

They stand together in the doorway – Michael feeling properly domestic – and wave at them as Kyle pulls his truck out of their driveway. Michael sees Isobel hanging out of the passenger window, waving at them, smiling. His severe sister, serious all her life, hanging out of a window, waving, smiling… who would ever believe that?

When Michael can’t see the truck anymore, he looks at Alex, suddenly worried again. He asks him quietly: “Will you stay tonight?”

“Of course I’ll stay,” Alex looks at him disbelieving. He pulls Michael back into the house, into _their_ house, closes the door behind them.

“Do you like it?” Michael asks, carefully and then adds: “be honest.”

“Honestly?” Alex looks guarded and Michael is preparing himself, but then Alex smiles and says: “I love it.”

Michael exhales with relief and then chuckles: “man, you almost got me.”

“What do you mean ‘almost’?” Alex teases, “I _totally_ got you, you should’ve seen your face.”

“How cruel,” Michael complains but he’s pulling Alex closer by his waist, buries his nose in Alex’s hair, breaths him in.

“So,” Michael looks up, meets Alex’s eyes.

“So?” Alex looks right back.

“Does this mean we’re moving in together?” Michael feels like he has to ask, can’t stand for there to be any room for vagueness left.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Alex says quietly and Michael nods, too serious.

“I haven’t even unpacked half my boxes,” Alex confides and Michael’s face splits into a blinding grin.

“I thought you said you wanted to take things slow,” Michael chides. Alex hums agreeably and then says: “A decade seems slow enough for me.”

Michael can’t help but laugh. He extricates himself from the embrace, reluctantly, and starts walking around, turning off all the lights. When he goes for the last lamp in the livingroom he notices Alex is standing by the French doors, looking out onto the yard, just as he himself has done the day before.

“What are you thinking?” he asks, hugging Alex the same way Isobel hugged him, putting his chin on Alex’s shoulder.

“Do you think we can get a dog?” Alex asks suddenly and Michael smiles.

“Of course,” he replies, feeling an enormous amount of fondness blooming in his chest.

“And let’s have Maria over on the weekend?” Alex half asks and then hurries to add: “we can invite everyone else, too, of course.”

“Whatever you want, darlin’,” Michael drawls into Alex’s ear and then pulls him towards their bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> Given the turn the actual show is taking, this is obviously waaaaaaaaaaay off but fuck-it, you know. I do what I want.


End file.
